Waiting For The Sun Review

Released: Jul 1968Genre: RockStyles: Album Rock, Rock & Roll, Psychedelic, Proto-PunkNumber Of Tracks: 11
In fact, time's been fairly kind to the record, which is quite enjoyable and diverse, just not as powerful a full-length statement as the group's best albums.

Waiting For The Sun
Reviewed by:
superduck, on december 15, 2004 1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Sound: The Doors have their own distinct sound, and this album is perhaps the best showcase of that. The Doors, unlike most mainstream bands, were driven by their organ player (Ray Manzarek) and their guitarist, Robby Krieger, played without a pick, creating the weird, psychadelic sounds heard on "Waiting For The Sun". Unfortunately, this might not appeal to all listeners, especially guitar players, since Robby can't be heard very well on most songs. However, this album has a killer song list that made the Doors, on their 3rd album, successful again. // 8

Lyrics: And now the reason to buy this album. Jim Morrison is probably the best lyricist to ever live, and, although this is not his best album, it's still one of the best albums lyrically. The songs "The Unknown Soldier" and "Five To One" help flush out the meaning of the album- pretty much Vietnam. Jim gets his point across, especially in "Five To One", and still does it beautifully. // 10

Overall Impression: 01. Hello, I Love You - an upbeat song to open up an album with a very offbeat, dark second half, this was a #1 hit. Not very long, but once it's over, the album's quality doesn't drop off.
02. Love Street - a song with an interesting sound and a poetry break in the middle. Not the best song on the album, but a very good song nonetheless. Musically, keyboard driven which could turn off some people.
03. Not To Touch The Earth - don't be fooled by the title, this is a poetic song with an extremely dark sound. Organ driven. This song is probably the one that scares people the most when they listen to the Doors. On that note, if music scares you, don't listen to this in the dark.
04. Summer's Almost Gone - love song, not much on the guitar end. Very blues sound, but once again mostly organ driven.
05. Wintertime Love - title makes it seem like an extension of the last song, but it does have a different sound with more guitar. An extremely well written song with a catchy chorus.
06. The Unknown Soldier - the beginning of the dark side of the album, mostly upbeat organ driven rock but with dark lyrics about Vietnam. Possibly the best song on the album, with a very energetic reprise. Good Bass part for bass players.
07. Spanish Caravan - acoustic, and almost completely guitar driven. The only acoustic song on the album, it's completely different from anything else you'll hear on this record.
08. My Wild Love - no guitar, no organ, and limited percussion. The song is the most "out there" song on the album, and seems to be drug induced. The worst song on the album in my opinion.
09. We Could Be So Good Together - a good song, but nothing to write home about. Basically an example that the Doors were not always too deep, they played love songs, too.
10. Yes, The River Knows - if you're a keyboardist, this is probably your favorite song on the album. Fascinating piano with limited guitar, but lyrically the best song on the album. Along with, of course...
11. Five To One - one of the most famous Doors songs ever. Probably about Vietnam, but Jim never even told the other Doors. Percussion oriented, with a brief guitar solo and rhythm organ.
This album is probably the best Doors album to come out in the 60s. Whether you're a guitarist or not, you'll love the lyrics; Jim really is a great poet. I'd buy it again any day. The only gripe I could have is not everyone likes the sound of the album. // 10

Waiting For The Sun
Reviewed by:
Jimi444, on february 01, 2005 0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Sound: The sound really appealed to me, but most people in todays society would find it boring with songs like "Yes, The River Knows" and "Not To Touch The Earth." I personally love The Doors dark and mistorious music. They have some guitar in it like "Spanish Caravan" and "Five To One." Alot of keyboardist parts from one of the greatest keyboardist of all time Ray Manzerek, "Touch Me" and "Not To Touch The Earth". Both have some great keyboard part in it. // 8

Lyrics: My opinion these are a one of the worst lyrics for Jim Morrison, they are great lyrics but he has made better. "Not To Touch The Earth" which is part of the peom "Celebration Of The Lizard," is a great lyric song. Jim Morrison does a awesome job on the vocals though, they are so deep it is truely amazing. // 8

Overall Impression: I have two of the six actual Doors albums (Waiting For Sun and LA Woman). I personally feel that this album is better than LA Woman. LA Woman is a great album no doubt about that, but LA Woman is the only blues album by The Doors and I'm more into their darker/earier albums. So I guess it depands if you like the blues more or the darker Doors like "The End." I love the album for the quality of songs it has on it, the range to from the ballad of "Hello I Love You" to the peotic and strange "Not To Touch The Earth" and to the rebelous song of "Five To One." What "Five To One" is about no one really knows, two theorys are that they are the population between whites and blacks and also the population between people who smoke pot and population of who don't. I personally think that is about the young people fighting against the government, I think so because of the lyrics "they've got the guns, but we have the numbers." Great album I would suggest this to any Doors fan or anyone who likes classic rock. // 8

A very good album but my 4th fav Doors album.I would put The doors,LA Woman and Strange days above this one.But am a huge doors fan maybe someone has difrent opinion about their albums.It's just not that dark as the above mentioned and thats what the Doors are good at